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File extensions tell your computer what kind of file it is and what types of software programs on your computer should open the file. The easiest was to change a file's extension is to save the file as a different file type from within a software program. Changing the file extension in the file name won't change the file type, but will cause the computer to misidentify the file. In Windows and Mac OS X, file extensions are often hidden. This article describes how to save a file as another file type in almost any software program, as well as how to make the file extension visible in Windows and Mac OS X.

Steps

Method1

Changing a File Extension in Nearly Any Software Program

1

Open a file in its default software program.

2

Click the File menu, and then click Save As.

3

Choose a location for the file to be saved.

4

Name the file.

5

In the Save As dialog box, look for a dropdown menu labeled Save As Type or Format.

6

Choose a new file type for the file from the dropdown menu.

7

Click the "Save As" button. The original file will still be open in the software program.

8

Find the new file where you chose to save it.

Method2

Making File Extensions Visible on Windows

1

Open the Control Panel. Click the Start menu, and then click Control Panel. If you're using Windows 8, click here.

2

Click Appearance and Personalization. You xan find this in the Control Panel.

On Windows 8, in the ribbon, click Options.

3

Click Folder Options.

4

Click the "View" tab, in the Folder Options dialog box.

5

Make file extensions visible. In the Advanced settings list, scroll down until you see Hide extensions for known file types. Click the box to uncheck it.

6

Click on Apply, and then click OK.

7

Open the Windows Explorer file browser to see the file extensions.

Method3

Making File Extensions Visible on Windows 8

1

Open Windows Explorer.

2

Click the View tab.

3

Check the File name extensions box in the View/Hide section.

4

Observe the location of file extensions. When you open a new Windows Explorer window, file extensions are visible.

Method4

Making File Extensions Visible on Mac OS X

1

Select a Finder window or open a new Finder window. You can also click the Desktop to switch to the Finder.

2

Click the Finder menu. Next, click Preferences.

3

Click "Advanced" in the Finder Preferences window.

4

Click the Show all filename extensions box to add a check.

5

Close the Finder Preferences window.

6

Open a new Finder window. The files will now show their file extensions.

You can't do that with the GUI. When you save the file, in the bottom left corner of the window, click "hide extension." This will keep the extension from appearing in Finder. If the file is already saved, click the File menu, go to Quick Look, expand the name and extensions, and click Hide Extension. You can actually save the file without an extension using terminal. However, many apps will refuse to open it since they don't know what it is. Even Finder has to be manually told what kind of file it is.

Get some kind of image editor (such as paint.net). Right click on your image and go to "open with". Then click "open with (program name)." Once you are in the editor, go to the Save As button and click "save as jpeg or png."

APK files cannot be converted into EXE files. Android devices use a different processor architecture and operating system than Windows devices, so an executable cannot simply be converted between the devices. Look for an alternative to the Android application for Windows.

The best way to do this is to use either an online file converter or to download a file converter and use it. For an online file converter, I would suggest ConvertFiles. If you wish to download one, then I would suggest Any Video Converter.

Article Info

wikiHow is a “wiki,” similar to Wikipedia, which means that many of our articles are co-written by multiple authors. To create this article, 13 people, some anonymous, worked to edit and improve it over time.

Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 887,547 times.

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Tested By:

wikiHow Technology Team

How helpful is this?

Co-authors: 13

Updated: June 11, 2019

Views: 887,547

WD

Whatagreatstore Dot com

May 20, 2017

"I was building my store on Shopify and wrote down a list of the collections I would be selling in Notepad. But when I saved it, I ended it with my website's name, which ended in .com. As I have since learned, .com at the end made the computer think this was the file extension. So the file wouldn't open the next day, and that list had been a product of 3 days of research. But this article solved it, thanks!"..." more

Rated this article:

A

Anonymous

May 2, 2017

"I saved a file as a bitmap and it was supposed to be JPEG. That fixed one problem, now I have to work on other folders that are configured wrong. I do not know a lot about computers, but I have resolved quite a few problems with computing. Thank you very much!"..." more

AK

Aryan Khanna

Mar 28, 2016

"Unchecking the box 'hide extensions for known file types' was the best and easiest tip."

VT

Von The Third

Jun 15, 2017

"All I had to do was change the configuration so that the file extensions were shown."

FJ

Faith Jane

Dec 15, 2017

"I was trying to change a .m4a file to a .wav. I was able to do just that. Thanks!"

Rated this article:

A

Anonymous

Aug 24, 2016

"Step 5 was the most helpful for me. I didn't know what box to click or unclick."

OA

Olamide Abe

Mar 20, 2018

"It was on point, exactly what I was looking for. You guys are the best. "